Auto Delinquencies Drop

According to Experian Automotive's State of the Automotive Finance Market report released Feb. 19, 30-day automotive loan delinquencies decreased from 2.72% in the fourth quarter 2012 to 2.63% in the fourth quarter of 2013, while 60-day auto loan delinquencies remained flat at 0.74%.

The percentage of loan dollars that were 30 days delinquent rose just slightly from 2.22% in Q4 2012 to 2.26% in Q4 2013. The percentage of loan dollars that were 60 days delinquent rose slightly from 0.55% during the same period.

However, the report also showed outstanding automotive loan balances increased 11% from Q4 2012, reaching $798.5 billion in Q4 2013, which is the highest level since Experian Automotive starting publically reporting the data in 2007, the firm noted.

Meanwhile, Experian found that an increase in repossessions was driven entirely by finance companies, which provides a significant majority of their loans to credit-challenged customers, the report noted.

Credit unions had the least percentage of repossessions, according to Experian.